William W. Mercer
United States Attorney
for the
District of Montana
Bill Mercer has served as United States Attorney for the District of Montana since April 20, 2001.
In September of 2006, Mercer was nominated by President Bush as Associate Attorney General. He served as Acting Associate Attorney General for eleven months.
From June of 2005 through July 8, 2006, Mercer assumed a dual assignment in Washington, D.C., where he served as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General while continuing to serve as U.S. Attorney.
Mercer, 44, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Montana from August 1994 through April 2001. Before returning to Montana, Mercer was Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General and Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of Policy Development in the U.S. Department of Justice between November 1989 and July 1994.
He is a graduate of the University of Montana. Mercer received a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1988. Mercer received his law degree from George Mason University School of Law in 1993.
Between 2001 and 2005, Mercer served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), a group of fifteen U.S. Attorneys who advise the Attorney General on policy matters. Attorney General Ashcroft appointed Mercer to Chairman of the AGAC from May 1, 2004, until he was appointed Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. Prior to becoming the AGAC Chairman, he chaired the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on Sentencing Guidelines.
